KTM and Pol Espargaro’s separation at the end of 2020 was a rare beast: an amicable-seeming split that made perfect sense for both parties and yet, in hindsight, left both categorically worse off.
Espargaro’s defection allowed KTM to slap a big band-aid over the awkwardness of having promoted Brad Binder above Miguel Oliveira, by sticking Oliveira into the works team too, keeping its talent pipeline running as intended. But while both Binder and Oliveira have added to its trophy cabinet, the former in particular emerging as one of MotoGP’s most reliable and canny Sunday performers, KTM as a whole has inescapably declined since the heady heights of its 2020.
And Espargaro – having looked the perfect, or at least by far the best available, Repsol Honda signing – made a childhood dream come true by donning those legendary MotoGP colours but has since only produced rare flashes of the rider that was so good for KTM.
It is very easy to be uninspired by an Espargaro-KTM reunion, considering how good KTM’s junior talent pipeline remains and how easy it is to see the Spaniard as nothing more than a stopgap for someone like Pedro Acosta, or maybe Moto2 leader Augusto Fernandez, or maybe the two uber-talented hot shots (Sergio Garcia and Izan Guevera) fighting it out for the Moto3 title in the colours of sister brand Gas Gas – the very brand Espargaro will now represent following Saturday’s rebranding announcement.
Ultimately, Espargaro making way for the next big thing in the future may well still come to pass. Maybe the RC16 has changed too much since Espargaro left, and maybe Espargaro has changed too much, exhausted by the Honda experience, since that fateful move.
But assuming that a priori would be doing the 31-year-old a massive disservice.
There was a long period during Espargaro’s time at KTM where he was its best rider by such a comfortable margin that the higher-ups struggled to conceal their annoyance when he would get injured, because when it came to grand prix weekends he was the programme. And 2019 was the absolute apotheosis of that, Espargaro routinely obliterating his disgruntled team-mate Johann Zarco, who was supposed to replace him as KTM’s franchise star in the way Binder now has.
But the 2019 KTM was a different world. The following year, with a more competitive bike that Binder and Oliveira dragged to the top spot of the podium but Espargaro never did, is a more relevant example, and plenty of ammunition to those who remain unconvinced by Espargaro’s ability – but if you’re in any way impartial and analytical, it’s so easy to see that ammunition is blanks.
To borrow a term from American sports, Espargaro was not clutch at KTM. When the RC16 was at its best, he could not execute, for a variety of circumstances ranging from admittedly dubious luck to what looked suspiciously like performance anxiety.
Had he been able to capitalise on the RC16’s best days, given how weird the 2020 title race was, Espargaro would’ve been an honest-to-God major title contender – he did finish just 36 points behind champion Joan Mir in the end.
That points tally was built on weekends when the RC16 was good enough but not the absolute best. And an underlying look into the numbers makes it extremely clear Espargaro was the best KTM rider that year.
Pol Espargaro’s 2020
Espargaro was top KTM in:
44 out of 70 practice sessions
11 out of 14 qualifyings
8 out of 14 races
KTM riders by average gap to race winner:
Pol Espargaro – 7.642s
Miguel Oliveira – 8.380s
Brad Binder – 12.143s
Iker Lecuona – 21.389s
Admittedly, this was against two rookies and a sophomore – in 2023, Espargaro will be comparing himself against a much more refined Binder and a bona fide MotoGP veteran in Jack Miller. But KTM doesn’t need him to beat them – if those were its designs, Espargaro would’ve been offered a ride in the factory team rather than Tech3/Gas Gas.
What it does need is a proven RC16 performer to serve as a yardstick while providing the same kind of feedback that seemingly drove KTM’s remarkable progress heading into 2021, before its momentum stalled.
For Espargaro, it will be a lower-pressure environment and a familiar bike, within a programme he has clearly always loved and taken huge pride in. As he put in on Friday, he will be back working on the bike that he “saw be born” and reuniting with several crew members – including crew chief Paul Trevathan, currently at Oliveira’s side – that had helped him thrive.
And while he almost certainly won’t be playing a part in any MotoGP title race while at Tech3, that elusive first win he’s still chasing really, genuinely could come. Scratch that – if he’s the same Espargaro of 2020, it will come.
So while he’s taking a step back, and it has to sting, it is worth it for that chance alone, to erase that zero so conspicuous on what is otherwise an enviable MotoGP CV.
